Fuenace



(No Model. 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. LEUFFGEN. GLASS ANNEALING FURNACE. No. 313,347. Patexited Mans, 1885.

VII

Nrrn STATES Artur tries.

GEOBG LEUFFGEN, OF BERLIN, GERMANY.

GLASS-ANNEALING FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 313,8?7, dated March 8, 1885.

Application filed May 6, 1882. (No model.) Patented in Germany September 17, 1850, No. 10.2w; in England April 26, 1861, No. 1,795; in Belgium May 25,1851, No.54,71i0; in Italy June 30, 1831, No. 13,!1], and in Sweden July :0, 1851.

T 0 all whom it may conccrn:

Be it 1 known that I, Gnone LEUFFGEN, of Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Glass-Annealing Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

To make glass goods durable they ought to be annealed, and to avoid a loss of the finished blown or pressed glass they ought to be pro tected against sudden cooling. I accomplish this by transporting the glass goods from the working placetotheannealing-furnacethrough a heated and closed trough by means of the conveyer hereinafter described. er consists, essentially, of an endless belt or chain, driven by hand or machine power. For heating the closed trough in which the con veyer works the hot generator-gases destined for heating the annealing'furnace are used, running along the bottom of the trough in canals or pipes. It is practicable to use for the same purpose steam, hot air, or any other heating means in lieu of the generator-gas. The anncalingfurnace is of round or polygo nal ground plan. The products of combustion are, carried off by a chimney in the center of it. On the bottom of the annealingi'urnace a turn-table is mounted on rollers, which can be moved from the outside of the furnace by cranks and gears engaging with a toothed ring fastened to the turn-table. The interior of the annealiug-furiiace can be di- Vided by sliding partitions into two or more sections, and these single chambers can be heated at will to different temperatures. The wall of the furnace is provided with a door near the point to which the conveyer brings the glass goods in small cars or otherwise, and through such door the goods are introduced into the furnace. Boxes set upon trucks on the turn-table receive the glass goods as they are introduced through the door, and when filled are closed with suitable lids. WVhen the goods are annealed, which may take place in any one of the compartments formed by the sliding partitions above mentioned, or in several such compartments, at different tempera tures, successively, they are taken out through the charging-door or otherwise. The trucks, with the superimposed boxes containing the annealed goods, may be wheeled out through The conveyan opening provided for the purpose and unloaded outside the furnace. The furnace is heated by generator-gas traveling. through the conveyer, as previously described; but

separate pipcs or canals may be provided if the gas thus applied is not sufficient, or if it is desirable for any reason to heat the conveyer and the furnace from separate sources,

or from the same source by different chan- 6o The glass cylinders, 6 5

chamber, which is shut off from the first.

After the annealing is effected the wagons are brought back into the first chamber and the plates removed. The heated gases used in these chambers can be carried on to the annealing furnace. eversuch'as looking-glass plates, &c.an annealing-furnace like the above-described twin chambers would be unhandy and too small. For such manufacturea gallery ofring- For large castings, how- 7 shaped ground plan and of very great diame- 8o ter is required; or two parallel galleries are used, which are united at their small ends by a railway and by traveling platf,1'1ns,-so that the wagons for annealing the pieces can be shifted in and out.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification and illustrate the invention. Figure 1 is a horizontal section of the annealing-furnace and a plan view of the couveyer with the top removed. section of the furnace and a side elevation of the attached conveyor. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the conveyor on the line A B of Fig. 2.

Similar-letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Ais the annealing-furnace, circular or polygonal in form,with a central chimney, A, to which fiues connect from the gas-passages. A turn-table, 0, extends entirely around the furnace. It is provided with circular rails dd underneath, which rest and turn upon rollers Fig. 2 is a vertical o ee,heldin uprightbrackets or supports f. On the bottom of the turn-table, between the rails d d, a toothed ring, g, is secured, into which gears the pinion h. This pinion is fixed to the shaft 7;, turning in bearings k. The shaft 7: is fitted on its outer end with the bevelwhecl l, gearing with the bevel-wheel Z, which is fastened to the vertical shaft m, revolving in wall-bearings 0 and held up by the collar n and ring a. The shaft at has a bevel-wheel, o, secured at the upper end, which engages with a similar bevel-wheel, 0", on the short horizontal shaft 1). A hand-wheel, q, fixed to the outer end of the shaft 1), affords a means of operating the gearing just described and turning the turn-table c in either direction. The hand-wheel q is on the outside of the furnace-wall through which the shaft 1) pro trades. The interior of the furnace is divided into sections by the slides q (1. These slides may be operated from the exterior by providing suitable way through the wall of the furnace or from above. The sections or chambers thus formed may be of different degrees of temperatureone hot and the other com paratively cold. Canals s s, leading the heat ing means from the conveyer, hereinafter described, underlie and surround the furnace, giving out the greater part of their heat to the sections 0*. In these sections 1* the boxes t, mounted on the wheels t, are filled with the goods to be annealed. Vhen one box is filled, the slide q (and there may be several such slides) is raised, and the turn-table, with the box or wagon. revolved until the boX or wagon passes the slideq, which isthen lowered. The next wagon is then filled and taken out of the way behind another screen, and so on. In this way the boxes pass on until the annealing is complete, and they come to the opening a, where they are unloaded. This opening may be made large enough to allow the wagon or box to be taken out bodily.

The annealing-furnaces 1;, arranged on the side of the annealing-furnace A, are for large plates of glass. They are shown in dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2, and the partition which divides each into hot and cold sections is also represented in dotted lines in Fig. 1. Their use has already been explained in the foregoing description.

The transporting apparatus or conveyer, which carries the glass goods from the place they are formed to the annealing-furnace, consists of a cover or inverted trough, a, resting npon frames b 1). "Above each frame pulleys c are mounted, which carry the endless chain or belt at". Crossstays 6, attached to each link of the chain d, carry flanged rollers e, which t1 avel on bars f", attached to angleirons on the side of the trough a. The

rollers 6 uide and sustain the sa in of the O CD 2:

chain. The pulleys c are rotated by any suitable means-by hand or power. Canals h extend along the trough immediately under the upper travel of the chain (1", from one set of pulleys, c, to the other. Th rough one of these the generator-gas enters and flows along to the annealing-tn mace, and is returned through the other. The hot glass goods are carried along on the chain (1 from the place where they are made toward the annealing-furnace. They are passed over the plate k onto a table, Z", strewn with sand, which is situated immediately in front of the opening through which the goods are passed into the boxes or wagons in the annealing-furnace, before described. The trough or cover a protects the hot goods from the outside air, and the heating-canals h, beneath the conveying-chain, keep the tern perature high, so that the goods reach the annealing-furnace at the same or nearly the same temperature at which they leave the form ing and finishing room. The length of this conveyer may be such as will serve the situation in which it is to be used. I have shown it broken to indicate this.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent 1. In an annealing-furnace, the combination, with the turntable and means for rotating the same, of trucks for containing the articles to be annealed, adapted to be rolled from one part of the turn-tableto another, or to be rotated therewith, and movable partitions in the furnace, whereby said furnace may be divided into different sections, and the trucks placed as desired in relation thereto, as set forth.

2. The combination, with the main annealing-furnace A, of the auxiliary annealingehambers or galleries V, placed beside the main furnace, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with an annealing-furnace, of a heated conveyer for bringing the glass goods from the forming-room to said annealing-furnace, as set forth.

4. The conveyerdescribed, consisting of the inclosing-trough a, pulley s c, and endless belt (2, all combined for joint operation with an annealing-furnace, as set forth.

5. The combination, with an annealing-furnace, of a conveyer for carrying the glass goods, and canals situated in close proximity to the conveyer for conducting the heating gas or other fluid along the conveyer and to the annealing-furnace, as set forth.

This specification signed by me this 8th day of September, 1881.

GEORG LEUFFGEN. Vitnesses: O. ZEUG,

H. Sorrnannn. 

